The Hunting Ground
by clemigod
Summary: Twenty-four children will enter the arena, however only one will surface victorious. Whether that be the one-eyed monster from seven or the sadistic boy from one, or perhaps the crafty girl from three remains unknown. The 77th annual Hunger Games is underway and may the odds be ever in their favour. Heroes of Olympus AU
1. The Reaping (Annabeth)

**A/N: This is my very first crossover fanfiction, the story will change to focus on various characters.**

 **This is a Heroes of Olympus / Hunger Games AU, I do not own either of these products.**

 **I hope you enjoy xx**

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This was her year.

This was her games.

Annabeth Chase stood in the midst of District One, her eyes locked on the two glass Reaping bowls ahead. Around her, the morning was lively as her fellow youth mingled around the square laughing and cheering, all in anticipation for today's Reaping. Nobody bothered to speak with Annabeth, not to question whether she'll be volunteering or to wager on who she think will. Nobody even bothered to look in the blonde's direction; not that she cared. But if they had spoken to her, she would tell them exactly how she planned to volunteer, how she planned to be District One's female tribute and how she planned to return home it's victor.

Her hands wandered towards the hem of her shirt, as she fiddled with the orange fabric Annabeth couldn't help but wonder how her mother would react upon seeing her only child volunteer for the games. Relief, joy, disdain? Annabeth didn't know her mother well enough to predict.

The entrance of the justice hall sprang open, bringing Annabeth out of her thoughts. The mayor emerged from the entry along with the districts escort, a woman named Medea, a mild round of applause broke throughout the crowd. The applause grew louder and more rampant as District One's previous victors filed out from the building; their proud demeanor left the audience in awe. Seventeen of them sat across the stage, smiling and waving at the crowd beneath them, at first glance, one could say they resembled Gods. Though Annabeth knew how monstrous they could be, she saw the vicious nature hidden beneath their pretentious smiles.

"Well, well, well." Medea chimed into the microphone, her green hair trembling as she spoke.

"Welcome all to the beginning of the 77th annual Hunger Games!"

More screams, more applause. The escort stood superiorly as if all this applause were meant for her.

"Now, Now, everyone quiet down. I know we're all excited, but we have to pay close attention to an extremely important video brought to you from the Capitol."

Immediately the video began to roll, a rather mediocre film played through each year. An obvious act of propaganda, Annabeth elected to ignore it and instead remain focused on the glass Reaping bowls. The film ended and the escort once again addressed the crowd.

"Now." She sung, pausing to eye the audience.

"It's time to determine this year's tributes."

This time no cheers, screams or applause. The crowd was silent as the escort drew a single piece of paper from the girls Reaping bowl. She strutted back to the microphone, slowly opening the folded paper. Scanning the name, she began to speak but stopped, prolonging the already agonizing anticipation.

"Kayla Knowles"

There was a shuffle in the girl's section as a young, preppy girl emerged. Annabeth didn't know her well, only that she was decent with a bow. Whether she wanted to volunteer this year or not is unknown, doubtful seeing as she could not be more than fifteen. Kayla took her place on stage, her green hair identical to the conceited woman beside her.

"Well done, well done." She began, "Now, do we have any volunteers?"

In unison, four voices yelled out from the crowd, though Annabeth paid no attention. Rather than waiting to be called forward she walked out to the center aisle, looking the green haired woman dead in the eye.

"I volunteer as tribute." She spoke clear and strong just as her mother had when she volunteered all those years ago.

"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous. Come to the stage dear, ladies and gentlemen our first tribute."

Annabeth made her way to the stage, her determination unwavering. On her way up Kayla lightly squeezed her arm. The escort impatiently grabbed Annabeth and paraded her to the audience.

"Such muscle, a fine tribute." She remarked.

"Now, what is your name."

Annabeth took in a breath and addressed the camera hovering in front of her face.

"Annabeth Chase."

Medea marveled at such a name, "Annabeth _Chase_? Annabeth _Chase_?"

She emphasized her last name, pretending to think where she had heard it previously, "Now, you wouldn't happen to be the Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena?"

She had prepared for the mention of her mother, though being addressed as her daughter stung more than anticipated. Feebly, Annabeth nodded her head.

"My, my, aren't we a lucky district to be honored with the daughter of a previous victor and not just any victor..."

Medea motioned towards where the Victors sat, "But Athena, winner of the shortest _ever_ Hunger Games."

The district roared with the mention of Athena and her great win in the 58th games, Annabeth allowed herself to glance at her mother. Though she remained uninterested in her daughter, instead she curtly waved to her admirers.

"Yes, well, we must move on!"

Medea eyed the boys reaping bowl and teasingly ran her fingers through the papers, opting to pick one. Once again, the audience hung on to her every word.

"Ethan Nakamura" She bellowed.

A boy in an eye patch came forward. He didn't look at all fazed by his name being called, if anything, he seemed irritated that he needed to walk all the way to the stage, but before he could even get there the escort asked for volunteers.

Almost immediately a scrawny, pale skinned boy sprung from the crowd.

"I volunteer as tribute" he practically screeched.

Medea was taken back at such a gauntly looking boy volunteering amongst the more muscular built boys in the crowd. Though the children of the district were familiar with this particular boy and squirmed in horror at the idea of Octavian in the arena. Octavian jogged his way to the stage, his figure casting a large shadow as he left the audience behind. Taking his left arm, Medea showed him off to the cameras.

"Yes, ah-yes, and what is your name?" She managed to choke out.

"Octavian."

Medea waited for more, but the peculiar boy stood still.

"Right then. District One I present to you your tributes for the 77th annual Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour"

Medea laughed forcefully, pulling Octavian and Annabeth together for the cameras. As the two shook hands, Annabeth looked at Octavian for the first time since he was reaped. He was staring back at her, his eyes hungry as though he was stalking his prey.

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 **I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, updates should be fairly regular.**

 **Please leave any comments, compliments or criticism.**

 **Have a lovely day, night or afternoon xx**


	2. Train Ride (Rachel)

**A/N: This took longer to write than previously anticipated, sorry!**

 **Enjoy xx**

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 _"Your tributes from District Nine, Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Grover Underwood."_

The events of this morning kept playing out in Rachel's head, from the moment she stood before the Reaping bowls to the moment she was declared a tribute.

Her mother screamed, she ran past the hordes of peacekeepers and held her daughter into a tight embrace. They squeezed, cried and begged, though nothing could change the decision of the Capitol. It was her father who pushed the weeping pair apart, tenderly brushing Rachel's shoulder as he did.

At first, Rachel refused to go.

She screamed, kicked and bit any peacekeeper who tried to touch her. It took three of them to haul her on stage, but only one to pin her down for the rest of the ceremony. The screams of her mother, Rachel's defiance, and her father prying the two apart; she relived every moment.

Rachel wanted to sob but she had already cried too much today and her red-rimmed eyes could barely conjure a tear. In frustration, she kicked the plush sofa at her feet causing it to knock several glass decorations. The sound of shattering glass was oddly satisfying and in a blind rage Rachel ravaged the train compartment shattering anything breakable.

She was stopped by a pair of hands pulling her to the ground.

"Please stop, you've already given the mentors a bad enough impression of us, we don't want to make it any worse."

Grover Underwood, her district partner. Rachael wanted to be angry at him, she wanted to push him away and continue her rampage. But there was something sincere in Grover's eyes that made it difficult for Rachael to do anything but comply with what this boy said.

" I'm sorry" she mumbled weakly. "I'm just so-"

"Angry?"

"No, scared." Her voice broke, " I'm so scared."

Grover gave Rachel a sympathetic look and reached out to grab her hand but quickly drew back with a horrified expression.

"You're bleeding." He said wiping Rachel's blood onto his shirt.

Rachel lifted her shaky hands, inspecting the many bleeding cuts. Grover snatched an expensive napkin from the table above them and bandaged her hands.

"You're the girl who paints all those murals right?" Grover interrogated.

"You've seen my murals?"

"So it is you, I know they're rare but you're very talented."

"Oh, I could do better but supplies are limited back home so I have to improvise."

Grover continued tending Rachel's hands with the napkin, tearing away strips of the delicate material.

"You can win this thing you know," He announced.

Rachel sat dumbfound. Win?

"What? There have been victors in the past who have won the games purely on morphing into their surroundings. All it takes is a superior artistic talent." Grover recited, never meeting Rachel's eyes.

Rachel was surprised Grover knew this about her. They weren't exactly friends in District Nine, she remembered his curly hair around the fields. He was handy with a scythe though his real use came with restraining the wild animals that lingered around the wheat.

"All I'm saying is that you have a chance."

"As opposed to you?"

Grover gave a self-deprecating laugh, "yes, as opposed to me."

"From what I recall you weren't bad with a scythe."

"Yeah, for cutting down wheat not cutting down people," Grover remarked mildly irritated.

"In the arena, it's not much different."

Grover pushed away Rachel's hands, "I refuse to kill people Rachel, it's against everything I stand for. My morals, my ethics-"

"What? like it's not against mine?"

"I don't know, seems like you're pretty content with the idea."

Rachel groaned, "I was just trying - I, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm sorry."

"I'm a vegetarian, I can barely stomach the thought of killing an animal let alone a human, a person."

Grover trailed off, gazing out the train's window.

"I've already accepted that I'm going to die in the arena, let's leave it as that."

A long silence fell over the two tributes. Rachel stared at Grover while he picked at the shards of glass left over from Rachel's outbreak.

Rachel pulled her wild, red hair behind her ears and stood to address her district partner. "So don't hurt anyone. Maybe It doesn't need to be about killing the other tributes, just about outliving them."

Grover stopped what he was doing and gave Rachel a hopeful smile, "We can sure try."

"I hope you two aren't forming a _lasting_ friendship, you have to kill each other in a week." A new voice commented from the corridor.

There was a tall man standing in the doorway with dark hair and an unnerving smile, Triptolemus. A previous victor Rachel remembers his games, Triptolemus had the advantage of a field style arena matching the terrain of District Nine. He hid for most of the games, only making his presence known to strangle other tributes with an improvised garrote comprised of wheat stalks.

"You put on quite the show at the Reaping ceremony-" Triptolemus pointed at Rachel, waiting for her name.

"Rachel."

"Rachel!" He repeated, plucking a berry from a nearby fruit bowl.

"It seems she put on quite the show in here as well." A woman emerged for the corridor looking distastefully at the distraught room, her hair was pinned back with an assortment of blooming flowers. Persephone, the districts escort. She stopped next to Triptolemus, her expression hardening as she saw Rachel's hands.

"Is that my embroidered, satin napkin wrapped around your filthy hands?" she demanded.

Rachel quickly pulled her hands away from her view and addressed Triptolemus.

"So, are you our mentor?" She queried, changing the subject.

Triptolemus smiled widely, "I surely am."

"What about Demeter? I thought she usually mentors?" Grover questioned, inspecting the gentleman before them.

Demeter was a legend not just among District Nine, but among the whole of Panem. A demon with a scythe, Demeter was District Nines first female victor and was the preferred mentor to all the tributes.

"She's taking a break this year," Triptolemus responded flatly.

"A break? So, she's not going to be here at all?" Grover pressed.

"No, she's back in District Nine, I'll be your mentor for the next week and I'll be the one keeping one of you alive by the time this is over; is that going to be a problem?"

Grover and Rachel stepped back, shaking their heads.

"Splendid." Their mentor said with a dangerous edge to his voice, "Come, the Reaping should be on soon, I'm interested to hear what the Capitol thinks of your performance."

Persephone scoffed, "She made us into fools, everyone will be counting us out this year."

"On the contrary, I think she made an impression."

"I'll say," Persephone muttered while inspecting the remaining embroidered, silk napkins.

Grover and Rachel made their way to the seating area and sat as far away from Triptolemus as possible.

"So many kids cry, few resist, but to have someone physically fight off peacekeepers," Triptolemus loudly clapped causing both Grover and Rachel to jump, "That's a new one."

"An act of defiance, that's what they'll call it," Persephone called from the dining room.

"Perhaps, but at least they'll be calling it something."

With that, the broadcast started. A young, attractive man appeared on tV, his brilliant smile lighting up the screen. Persephone let out a lustful sighed, which wasn't an uncommon reaction, ever since Apollo took over the hosting position a few years ago he quickly became the object of female and sometimes even male devotion.

"Happy Hunger Games Panem!" Apollo sang, "Welcome back, this morning we saw some fresh-eyed tributes ready to take the arena and tonight I'm here with my panel of experts to analyze this year's Reaping ceremony."

Apollo motioned to the three people on his right; Hermes who annually acts as his co-host. Artemis, Apollos twin sister and head trainer. Finally, Thanatos, the head game maker;most commonly referred to as 'The Angel of Death' among the districts.

The show began with the tributes from District One, there was a skinny boy who made Rachel feel uneasy and a fierce blonde girl who Artemis pointed out the be the daughter of Athena, one of Panems more popular victors. District Twos tributes featured a handsome boy with a small cut on his upper lip and a muscular girl who used her strength to fling herself on stage.

"Careers," Triptolemus mumbled to himself.

District Three was a hard one to watch, a curly haired boy with elvish features was reaped much to the horror of the mayor who Rachel gathered must be the boy's father. The man's horrified expression deepened when a girl was reaped, her skin the same bronze color as the other tribute.

"Both brother and sister Reaped and both the mayor's children" Hermes shook his head in amazement, "now, what are the odds."

"Why, this should be an interesting year for District Three." Apollo marveled with a large grin plastered across his perfect face.

District Four, another career district, saw a young, beautiful girl reaped from the bowl, however when asked for volunteers none spoke. Thanatos remarked how this was the first time in over fifty years no girl had volunteered from District Four. The girl stood horrified as she searched the cruel faces beneath her. A male volunteer stood out of the crowd, he had piercing green eyes and muscular arms that reached out to hug his unlucky district partner. An act of such kindness seemed unlikely from a career.

The pair from District Five couldn't be any more different, the girl looked as though she was ready to kill anyone with just her cold, blue stare while the boy appeared he would be more comfortable taking a nap. District Sixes female tribute excited Artemis, she was a stocky girl who towered immensely above her male district partner. No one spoke about him, but his grim expression and intense eyes made Rachel nervous. The lumber District saw a tall, skinny boy whose brown hair had grown over his eyes and a strange girl whose skin seemed to radiate a greenish hue.

Grover liked her.

District Eight sported two very attractive tributes, a stunning Asian girl and a blond haired boy whose appearance reminded Rachel of Apollo; neither seemed happy to have been Reaped. Then it was her district, District Nine. The footage showed Rachel's name being called and then cut to her mother screaming, their long embrace, her father's interference and finally Rachel's resistance. The footage zoomed in on Rachel as she kicked and punched the peacekeepers away from her.

Apollo whistled approvingly at her actions, "If it takes three highly trained peacekeepers to drag that girl to a stage I can't even begin to imagine what she'll be like in the arena."

Hermes agreed, "Certainly, she's one to watch."

The screen changed to show Grover being Reaped, no one screamed for him, no one cried. Rachel turned to address her district partner though he seemed distant. The rest of the Reaping went fast, District Tens tributes consisted of a beastly boy with a gentle face and a freakish girl with vibrant red hair. District Elevens male tribute stumbled on stage and hyperactively jumped on the spot while its female tribute stood deflated gazing out to a mysterious woman. A petty, fragile girl and a monstrous boy, whose eyes were so close together they resembled one, stood to represent District Twelve. The Reaping ended as Apollo farewelled Panem, Triptolemus turned off the broadcast.

"Well!" He announced, "I call that a success, did you hear that kid? You're one to watch, we'll be doing just fine for sponsors."

Grover instantly stood up and turned towards the corridor.

"I'm going to bed." he said more to the floor than to anyone else.

"That sounds like a good idea, big day tomorrow," Triptolemus added leaving the room, Persephone trailing behind him.

Left alone, Rachel had time to ponder the Reaping ceremony; some of those kids were huge or just unnerving where was her chance of winning over them? As she sat in the empty train compartment the reality of the situation began to sink in. She ran to the trains window and looked back towards District Nine; it could no longer be seen through the dim night, a bitter thought crossed Rachel's mind as she realized she would most likely never see it again. The young red head began to silently sob for as the further and further the train moved towards the Capitol, the closer she became to her own inevitable death.

* * *

 **Here are all the tributes!**

 **District 1: Luxury.**

 **Annabeth Chase | Octavian**

 **District 2: Masonry.**

 **Jason Grace | Clarisse La Rue**

 **District 3: Technology.**

 **Leo Valdez | Nyssa**

 **District 4: Fishing.**

 **Percy Jackson | Piper Mclean**

 **District 5: Power.**

 **Thalia (Grace)* | Clovis**

 **District 6: Transportation.**

 **Nico de Angelo | Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano**

 **District 7: Lumber.**

 **Travis Stoll | Juniper**

 **District 8: Textiles**

 **Drew Takanara |Will Solace**

 **District 9: Grains.**

 **Grover | Rachel Elizabeth Dare**

 **District 10: Livestock.**

 **Frank Zhang | Ella**

 **District 11: Agriculture.**

 **Dakota | Lou Ellen**

 **District 12: Mining.**

 **Hazel Levesque | Tyson**

 *** Thalia and Jason won't be siblings in this fanfiction**

 **Please leave any comments, compliments or criticism.**

 **Have a lovely day, night or afternoon xx**


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